Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi everybody. I would like to know the average life expectancy of a tote after it has been cut down to use as a grow bed or as a fish tank. The IBC I have is the white one, and they will be taking a beating by the sun, as I live in a tropical island. I would like to know the worst case scenario? Also if you all think it's a good investment to paint them black on the outside, as I've been told this helps out with the algae.

Thanks so much for you time, guess Ill be in this page quite some time as it has so much good info.

Hi simplyorganic

Welcome to the forum.

A lot of members paint their IBC's (doesnt have to be black), they will break down in time although I remember someone saying they had some IBC's that were quite a few years old and only just starting to crack. I know OBO has had his for quite some time too.

Simply - if your planning on them hanging out in the sun for many many years it would pay to give them a coat of paint for piece of mind. I havnt painted mine as they will eventually be boarded in with timber to protect them. There is a lot of different thinks you can use if you want to go down that track too.

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Thanks for letting me know this insight Charlie.
Happy to be part of this forum.
Just wanted to make sure that at least I could have some profit margin in the IBCs lifespan. As this one will be my first of many IBCs to come.
Simply

I've had some sitting in the sun storing water, unpainted for probably 5 years and they are still holding water. I pushed against one a few months back and thought I heard a bit of a cracking sound but it hasn't leaked yet.. Still much safer to give them a coat of paint on the outside for protection.

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Well it really depends what is in it at my place of work we store solvent in the tanks and they last about two-3 years they are also stored when empty outside in sunny Brisbane the IBC's have a internal liner then the plastic shell this sometimes fails after a fair bit of abuse with our chemicals at different at temps and movements and the liner eventually comes away but I still have never seen one crack even when the liner is stuffed besides someone who will stay nameless puts as forklift through one .

As for what your we are using these for Aquaponics I think what others have said paint or encase them and it should easily get RTI your more likely you will get a leak from a tap etc or silicon degrading.

If your buying a second hand one (we do for our company) I just look for blisters on the liner inside and would probably give it a miss.

Hope that helps you a bit they really are an excellent idea for this type of adventure and i dont see you having any problems if they are in decent condition To start with.

Willy

Why not just erect some sort of canopy over the tanks? That should be cheaper and less work in the long run than replacing tanks every few years. Also something to remember about plastics, is that the UV rays actually break down the plastic which is what causes them to become brittle. Therefore to some degree, the plastic and chemicals contained in it would also end up in the water which would negate the work of producing organic fish and vegetables. Just a thought. Not to mention that the fish should probably not be in direct sunlight all day long.

Greebe